At the southwest corner of Dolores Park’s viewpoint, at 20th and Church, stands a small fire hydrant painted gold. In April 1906, as fire consumed the city and the broken water mains left firefighters dry, this hydrant kept producing water. Nobody fully understood why; it drew from a line that survived the earthquake.
Volunteers and firefighters dragged hose up the hill and used it to hold the fire line at 20th Street. The blocks south of here, including the Victorian rows of the Mission and Noe Valley, exist because of it. Locals called it the little giant.
Every April 18, at 5:12 in the morning, descendants of survivors and city firefighters gather here to repaint it gold, a ritual that has continued for over a century. It sits a few steps from the park’s best view, and almost everyone photographing the skyline walks past it.
